Chapter 70: Crimson Broadcast

Nichiuri TV.
Studio on the 9th floor, set of "Detective Bureau".
Time: exactly 8:00 PM.

"All teams, get ready!"
"5, 4, 3..."
"Welcome everyone to this week's special edition of 'Detective Bureau', I'm your host, Takafumi Matsuo!"
"And I'm your assistant, Ayako Nagai!"
"Today, we are thrilled to have several heavyweight special guests with us! They are the currently sensational master detective duo, Mr. Kogoro Mouri and his partner, Mr. Hajime Kindaichi..."
"In addition, we have the veteran gourmet detective who enjoys an overwhelming reputation overseas, Mr. Shuzen Ooue!"
"Next, the five of us will bring you a one-hour live broadcast. Viewers who wish to consult can call our hotline..."

After a standard opening monologue, the host Takafumi Matsuo and his female assistant directed the audience's attention to the guests sitting on either side.

This middle-part-wearing, bespectacled man was a smiling tiger, full of scheming and calculation.
He had lowered his posture to invite them in advance, but once at the studio, he appeared somewhat aggressive.

"Detective Mouri, could you tell us how you and your partner came to team up?"
"Well... how should I put it?"

The mustached man had been nervous earlier, but now, facing the stream of flattery, he began to get a little carried away.

"It feels like it was meant to be by fate that we became partners, haha! When Kindaichi is around, I can easily crack cases even without going into my sleeping state, just like the Maru family case..."

Down in the audience, Conan's face twitched slightly.
Uncle could only remember the two cases solved together with Gao Mo.
The Hatamoto case had been brought up repeatedly before, but because of Gao Mo's instructions, Uncle had to downplay its impact, leaving only the Maru family case available to talk about.

However, compared to the Hatamoto case which only involved high-society scandalous affairs, the Maru family case actually had a complete deduction process—and thus it became Uncle's new target for boasting.

"Speaking of Detective Mouri's sleeping deductions, everyone is actually quite interested in them as well, such as the Red Demon Village Fire Festival case," the female assistant asked with a smile, pursuing the topic, "and the Moonlight Island case... Could you tell us what happened back on Moonlight Island?"

"Uh, well, about that," the mustached man scratched his head, completely clueless about the Moonlight Island case. "Let's talk about the Maru family case instead. I was right there in the parlor at the time, and I never expected..."

Opposite him, Shuzen Ooue showed an impatient expression and directly interrupted the mustached man: "Recycling the exact same case over and over again, were you really the one who solved those cases, you hack?"

"Huh?"

The mustached man froze in front of the camera, and Conan's expression in the audience also turned panicked.

"Sleeping Kogoro, what a joke," Shuzen Ooue snorted coldly. "That Maru family case you're so proud of? Even a child could solve a case like that. The culprit simply acted on the spur of the moment without any thorough preparation...
"It's just that the victim was too badly injured to cry out, otherwise what would you even need a detective for?"

"You can't really put it that way," Takafumi Matsuo hurriedly chimed in with a forced laugh to smooth things over. "After all, the police also spoke highly of it..."

***

"The praise of those idiot cops is a joke," Shuzen Ooue said dismissively. "A jigsaw puzzle dying message... Does a case like this even require a detective to step in?"

This guy was just speaking with the benefit of hindsight.

Gao Mo frowned slightly beside him.
The person who actually made those deductions was him.
The reason he pushed the mustached man forward was to find a bodyguard to share the risks.
He admitted that his deduction skills were still quite ordinary, but his Hawk-Eye Vision was a supernatural ability.

A dying message might sound simple, but was it really that easy to spot at the scene?
At the time, the victim was already in critical condition, and the knife marks left behind were actually very shallow. Coupled with the chaotic information and clutter at the scene, accurately locking onto the clues was the real challenge.

Even master detectives could easily miss the clues.

"What do you know, you jerk?" The mustached man jumped up in rage. "The gourmet detective is the real joke here! Talking about matching gastronomy with murder... Aren't you afraid of getting poisoned to death while investigating?"

"Two great detectives!"

Seeing the mustached man's face turn crimson, as if he was about to come to blows with Shuzen Ooue, Takafumi Matsuo hurriedly signaled the female assistant with his eyes.

"Right, let's take a commercial break now, and right after that will be the deduction segment everyone has been waiting for..."
"We can roll the commercials."

In the studio, the production crew inserted the commercials in real-time, exceedingly satisfied with the on-camera dramatic effect.

"That Matsuo guy really has a knack for this. He actually thought of using master detectives to create conflict."
"Originally, this show had already hit its ceiling, but with this, maybe it can experience a second spring."
"Kogoro Mouri and that Kindaichi didn't cost much, but that Shuzen Ooue opened his mouth like a lion, demanding 1.5 million for a one-hour appearance..."
"Whatever, as long as it generates good ratings and screen effect."
"Where's Suwa? Is he still downstairs?"
"Who knows what that guy is up to. He cleared out everyone else and went to the 4th-floor conference room all by himself..."
"Maybe he's come up with some other weird idea," an assistant walked into the studio holding a script. "Mr. Matsuo replaced the deduction short-film segment with a live broadcast feed and asked us to connect to the 4th-floor conference room."
"Those two have been full of schemes since back in the day."
"Yeah, a lot of the ideas were cooked up by the two of them together."

On the studio set.

Gao Mo adjusted his glasses and remained silent. After the camera cut away, Shuzen Ooue resumed his posture of closing his eyes to rest, seemingly unwilling to waste another word on the mustached man.

"Pardon me," Takafumi Matsuo suddenly clutched his stomach and stood up. "I'm feeling a bit unwell, I'll go to the restroom. I'll try to be back before the commercial break ends..."

Almost at the same time Matsuo left, the female assistant also excused herself with an apologetic look: "I'll go check on him."

"What's their deal?"

***

By the time the mustached man snapped back to reality, only a few guests were left on stage.
Thinking about the upcoming deduction segment, he began to feel rather nervous.
With his daughter who came to support him down in the audience, along with so many viewers watching, losing to Shuzen Ooue would be a massive embarrassment.

"Ooue seems fully prepared today, we..."
"Didn't you say being a detective requires thick skin?" Gao Mo nudged the heavy-faced uncle. "I watched previous episodes, and in the end, it's always a choice among four suspects, leaving it to luck and blind guessing. Just treat it like acting a fool, you're great at that routine anyway."
"What do you mean I'm great at that routine?"
"I mean you're exceptionally good at handling trouble, and a challenge like this is an absolute breeze for you."
"Hehe."

The mustached man instantly lost his nervousness and immediately patted his chest in assurance.
"Don't worry, we won't be competing with him in deductions later."

About less than five minutes later, Takafumi Matsuo returned to the studio sweating profusely, closely followed by the female assistant.

Gao Mo's hawk-like eyes narrowed slightly.
The aura of death permeating the TV building was slowly dissipating...

"Alright, welcome back to the show," Takafumi Matsuo ad-libbed after the commercials ended. "Before the deduction segment begins, I'd like to talk about the wiretapping incidents that have been generating heated discussions lately. Although smartphones are convenient, they are constantly threatened by viruses, which is why I still prefer old-fashioned mobile phones..."

"That's not quite right, Mr. Matsuo," the mustached man shook his head and interrupted. "If it's wiretapping we're talking about, even old-fashioned phones are useless. There are plenty of ways to tap a line if someone wants to."

"Oh?" Takafumi Matsuo said awkwardly, "Mr. Mouri seems quite experienced."

"Of course, I used to be..." The mustached man adjusted his collar. "I used to be a police detective, I've seen plenty of things like this, and besides..."

"Speaking of police detectives," the female assistant interrupted with a smile, "Matsuo's shooting skills seem no less impressive than a cop's, right? I heard people say you've been practicing shooting overseas frequently lately, reaching a professional level. You wouldn't happen to be planning to kill someone..."

"Uh, haha," Takafumi Matsuo wiped his sweat nervously, "Don't say things that cause misunderstandings! I'm just interested in it, I'm certainly not some suspicious character from a detective drama."

With that, Takafumi Matsuo turned back to the camera with a mysterious smile: "And now, the most, most, most important deduction segment! Our producer, Mr. Suwa, will make a special guest appearance as the protagonist... Are you ready?"

The production crew and the audience burst into laughter at Matsuo's comedian-like antics just as the feed switched over to the conference room.

A short, chubby-faced man with his head pierced all the way through, eyes wide open, slumped sideways beneath the window appeared in the live broadcast.

Shattered glass and spattered blood stained the screen a brilliant crimson.

The laughter on set paused for a split second.

"Incredible, it looks even more realistic than the previous short films."
"Haha..."